Lot 25
Ilya Andreyevich Tolstoy(Russian, 1903-1970)His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on his throne in the Norbhu Linka
4 June 2025, 16:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Ilya Andreyevich Tolstoy (Russian, 1903-1970)
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on his throne in the Norbhu Linka
with seal of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan inscription, framed and glazed, indistinct signature (underneath inscription)
gelatin silver print mounted on card
35.9 x 29.6cm (14 1/8 x 11 5/8in).
with seal of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan inscription, framed and glazed, indistinct signature (underneath inscription)
gelatin silver print mounted on card
35.9 x 29.6cm (14 1/8 x 11 5/8in).
Footnotes
This image was taken in Lhasa in January 1943 by Ilya Tolstoy.
The photographic print would then have been made later at the Edna Lorenz Studio in Calcutta which run by the British photographer John Lawrence Winterton.
Ilya Tolstoy (grandson of author Leo Tolstoy) emigrated from Russia to the US in 1924. In 1942 he formed with Brooke Dolan, President Roosevelt's envoy to Tibet, this was the first official US visit to Tibet.
In a diary note for 21st January 1943 Reginald Fox, Lhasa mission Radio Officer (1937-50) notes:
"Tolstoy has taken my camera to photograph the Dalai Lama today."
This work originally accompanied the 1947 Letter (lot 23) from The Dalai Lama to Sir Basil Gould.